25 Days of Hockey

This month marks a very interesting stretch.  In eight days, I leave for Portland, meaning this blog will likely take a break while I'm away for the weekend.  Ten days after that marks Christmas, or the time when normal people go insane for absolutely no reason...oh, wait, that was Black Friday.  Christmas is a time for a lot of things, but just as important is that seven days after that is New Year's Day, and of course, along with the college football games is the NHL Winter Classic.

When the idea for an outdoor NHL game surfaced, it was given a test run in November 2003, when the Montreal Canadiens played the Edmonton Oilers in a regular season game.  The success of that game allowed for the NHL to further explore this option, ending up with it being an annual event starting on New Year's Day of 2008, when the Pittsburgh Penguins visited the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo.  Before going on further, yes, it was played in a football stadium, and yes, it provided a very interesting dynamic.  The following year, the Winter Classic was held at Wrigley Field and the participants were the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks (see above pic).  The 2010 version was held in Fenway Park and had the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins in that game.  This year, there will be two versions of this game, the first being on New Year's Day in Heinz Field and will feature the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins.  This promises to be a great game, complete with Sidney Crosby haters (mainly those outside of Pittsburgh), Ovechkin haters (mainly the old time hockey followers like "Sour Grapes" himself Don Cherry) and regular hockey fans alike tuning in to see this game.

Did I mention that there would be a second game?  Well, that game will be in February in Calgary's McMahon Stadium and feature the Montreal Canadiens and the Ronald McDonalds...er, Calgary Flames.  Seeing as this is an all-Canadian fare, it will be interesting to see how much of Canada closes up shop to see this game.

Tomorrow, I will be discussing the jerseys that have been worn during the Winter Classic games, as well as the ones that will be worn for this year's Games.